What a week!

After the excitement of the bears and pajama day last week, we really exhausted ourselves with the winter rotations.  Everyday we went to a different class to make a snowman.  I'm sure you saw the "soup" and great paintings come home.

When we get back in January, though, we get back to work.  Our winter formal reading assessments begin right away.  We will be reinforcing some counting concepts and for science (drum roll).....

We will have a new class pet - meal worms.  They will delivered the first week we get back.  We will make them a home as we learn about what things animals need to survive.  We will be learning about the life cycle of the meal worm, too (as well as other animals).  Eventually, these meal worms will become darkling beetles.  Its not as bad as it sounds.  The kids love it.


Have a wonderful holiday season.

Gingerbread Week

We are all about the Gingerbread cookie this week - if only we were eating them.

We are reading different versions of the story, including the Gingerbread Boy, the Gingerbread Girl, Gingerbread Baby, and more fun and silly stories.  We are using gingerbread men to practice our measuring skills in math, too.  We will be making gingerbread houses for our friends, too.

In social studies, we are learning about landforms - mountains, hills, caves, and volcanoes.  After, that we will switch to bodies of water - oceans, rivers and lakes.

In writing, we are writing about true events in our lives.  We are learning about a beginning, middle and end to a story, how to add details to our pictures and writing, and about speech bubbles.

Next week, will be Teddy Bear week.  I will be sending a letter home on Thursday with details (they can bring a stuffed animal next week).  Another letter will go home later next week, about our Teddy Bear Picnic on the 16th.  Keep a look out for those letters.

Have a good week.

oops!

I just went to post an update and realized I never sent out our Thanksgiving picture with our pilgrim boys and girls.  Sorry for the delay.

Check out our Germs

We've been learning all about germs, washing hands and how to NOT spread germs.  Mr. Mohler, our school nurse, came to talk to us and we read lots of books including one about the Big Bad Wolf who blew down the three pigs houses.  Really, all he wanted was a tissue and he kept sneezing and blowing the houses down.  He wasn't try to hurt them.
This picture is our apple/germ experiment.  We put half the apple in a bag right after it was cut.  The other half was passed around so that everyone can touch and spread germs.  Can you guess which one has the germs?

We started writing narrative stories instead of informational books.  We are writing about stories that really happened to us - somewhere we went or did with friends or family.  We will be writing these kinds of stories through the end of the year.
In math we learned about more and less, longer and shorter.  We compared the length of our names with that of friends and some storybook characters with really long names like SkippyJon Jones and Tikki Tikki Tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo.

Have a great weekend.

What a crazy week

Between the election, one full day of school and two half days, its been a crazy week.

Back to normal next week.

We wrote another informational book in writing.  They are working hard on stretching out words and adding details to their pictures.  We read a lot of informational books, learning about fiction vs nonfiction.  We are finishing up a math unit on comparing the lengths of objects and using words like longer and shorter and we learned how a  number line can help us find one more or one less.  We also finished up our social studies unit on American Symbols (the flag, Statue of Liberty, Mt. Rushmore, bald eagle and the Liberty Bell).  Today, we talked about Veterans Day and what it means to be free.

We also had an assembly with three former Redskins players. They talked to us about teamwork and being respectful even when playing sports.

I'd like to thank everyone for coming in for conferences.  It has been shown that students do better in school when parents are involved.

Have a great weekend.

Halloween!!

We had a wonderful Fall Festival.  Thank you to Max's mom for the treats and mystery boxes and thanks to all those that helped and joined the fun.

Yummy treats!

Yucky Mystery Boxes with Monster Parts inside

The whole Crew

Upcoming Events

Along with Red Ribbon Week, Singer is having Character Week to teach the 6 Pillars of Character.

Monday, Oct 24 - Respect - Wear wacky or bright colors
Tuesday, Oct 25 - Responsibility - Dress like a superhero (no masks please)
Wednesday, Oct 26 - Caring - Wear a hat
Thursday, Oct 27 - Fairness and Trustworthiness - Wear wacky socks
Friday, Oct 28 - Citizenship - Wear our school colors, purple and white, or a Singer T-shirt


Monday, October 24-28 - Scholastic Book Fair.  Our class will visit and make a wish list on Monday the 24th.  The list will go home for your review.  If you choose to send in money with your student, please send it in a labeled envelope.

Friday October 28 -  PTA Movie Night - come join Singer and watch Peter Pan.

Monday, October 31 - Halloween parade and party in our classroom.  The parade starts at 2:30 but we will be changing into costumes at 2:15.  Anyone who can come at 2:15 can help get us ready.

Tuesday, November 1 - PTA meeting.

In our classroom, we finished up with the water cycle and switched to social studies to learn about American Symbols.  We finished our number books and will start a measurement unit.  We wrote a book this week about something we know a lot about.  I will share their writing with you at our conferences.  You will receive their progress report then, too.

Have a great weekend.

Pictures from Heyser Farm

We had a wonderful day at the orchard. We learned about the apple trees, saw bee hives, smelled the compost pile, watched the chickens, sorted apples by size and watched Mr. Gavin make cider.  We all got to taste some and it was delicious.  

Learning about the chickens

watching the apples take a bath before heading to the cider machine

filling our cider bottles

the cider machine - sorts, grinds and distributes pulp onto trays
the cider drips through and the trays are left with dried pulp

listening to Miss Marcy teach us how to make cider

Field Trip Reminders

Our field trip to Heyser Farm is Wednesday October 19.

• Your child should wear sneakers.  We will be walking around the farm.
• We will be back for lunch. You do not need to send in anything special.  
• Each student will bring home apples and cider. Make sure you check their backpacks.

It supposed to be a gorgeous 80 degree day.  I can't wait.

BINGO!

Friday night is PTA's Annual Bingo Night at 7:00pm! Win great prizes like principal for a day or breakfast with the kindergarten teachers.  

Happy Friday

We had a busy week.  We are getting more independent during centers and working together in small reading groups.  In writing, we've been thinking of things we know and writing about them.  Students are encouraged to add to their daily writing or they can start a new one the next day.  I hold the writing until the end of the marking period.  You will get the first batch at parent teacher conferences.  In math, we have been counting, counting, counting.  In science we are almost done with our weather unit.  We did seasons, weather and now the water cycle.

Remember to send back reading books on Monday.  Have a great weekend.

Homework

Our first homework went home today in folders.  It is due back on Monday, October 10.  The idea of kindergarten hw is to have the child do a little bit every day.  They just need to get into the habit of doing homework.  The work is not new so your child will need help reading directions, but can do the rest him/herself.  PLEASE let them do the work.  Have fun.

kindergarten team blog

If you are not already following our kindergarten team blog, check it out at

www.singerkindergarten.blogspot.com

It was just updated with October news!

Heyser Farm Field Trip

Our first field trip!

We are going to Heyser Farm.  Look in your child's folder for information and a permission slip.  Please return the signed form and money as soon as possible (please wait for both things to send in at the same time). 

Mark Your Calendars - Free Family Event

http://www.makerfairesilverspring.com/

Maker Faire Silver Spring is a free, family-friendly event that brings together Makers of all types for a spectacular display of art, science, technology, craft and engineering.

We are on our way!

Here we go....kindergarten!  

We are up and running.  We started our literacy centers so we can learn how to work independently while I'm working with small reading groups.  We worked in Books, Computers, Art, Word Work and Magnets. We are staying in centers for 7 minutes and will build up to 15 minutes each rotation.  Phew!

We read books and talked about the characters and drew pictures of them.  We read Chrysanthemum and did lots of activities with our names.  In math, we explored different manipulatives like blocks, magna-tiles, links and shapes.  

Please send snack in a separate bag from lunch.  Lunch boxes should only have lunch foods in them.  

Remember, there's no school on Monday.

Welcome to Kindergarten 2016-17

Hello and Welcome to our classroom blog.  I will use this blog to post important information, classroom updates, school updates, and pictures of some of our special activities. You will be able to:

• read about what we are learning this week in kindergarten
• get reminders about important dates and deadlines
• see pictures of what we are doing in class or on a field trip

You can check for new posts at www.mrsgoldbergskindergarten.blogspot.com or click the 

will automatically receive an email when I publish a new post.  

Your emails are safe - I do not share them.

Please remember, if you ever have any questions, you can email me at

Amy.B.Goldberg@mcpsmd.net

kindergarten team blog: www.singerkindergarten.blogspot.com

school website:  http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/singeres/

Field Day Tomorrow

Its going to a great day for Field Day.

Kindergarteners are wearing white t-shirts tomorrow.  They can bring a hat and sunscreen,but they must be able to put the sunscreen on themselves.  The easiest thing is to apply it before they come to school.  They might get wet, so an extra t-shirt or shorts might be a good idea.  It is also crazy hair day but they will be running around and getting sweaty so a hat may be a better option.

For those who are volunteering tomorrow, please check in at the office and go right to the gym.

CHANGE IN FIELD DAY AND TOMORROWS CLOTHES

Because of rain, field day is now scheduled for TUESDAY, MAY 24.

For tomorrow, we are dressing like a rainbow - WEAR AS MANY COLORS AS YOU CAN!

ABC count down to the end of kindergarten

We're getting close to the end of kindergarten!  We're counting down 26 days starting this Friday.  You should have received a calendar in your child's folder.  Each day is a different theme.  Please check each evening so your child is prepared the next day.
(For May 17, it is field day, so I will let you know what our team color is).
If you have any questions about any of the days, please contact me.  I went over it with the kids and they are super excited.

No School Thursday and Friday

Its Orientation time again.  Can you believe you did it a year ago?

Our next little ones will be coming in, so please remember there is no school on both Thursday or Friday of this week.
  

Weekly Updates

April has been a long month with lots going on.

We were doing in-depth studies of characters and setting and now, this week, problem and solutions in stories.  We read fairy tales last week and this week we will switch to the "sillier" versions of each.  We have been adding and subtracting in math.  This week, we will focus on  word problems.  In science, we researched the similarities between the squirrel and the chipmunk.  Other kindergarten classes did other similar yet different animals.  We will learn about those this week as we walk the bulletin boards to see what the other classes learned.  This week in science we are also learning about different plants - some in Maryland like the Black Eyed Susan, and some not found in Maryland like cacti and the Venus Fly Trap.

Tuesday, April 26 is a NO School Day for Election Day!

Thursday, April 28 is Take Your Child to Work Day!  Please let me know if your child will not be in school.

Have a great week.

Welcome Back from Spring Break

Although its been feeling more like winter.....

We've adjusted well to being back at school.  Everyone had lots of stories to share.

I will be sending home 3rd quarter writing next week.  4th quarter will consist of nonfiction and fiction texts and focusing on the elements of stories.  We learned ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd) this week in math, and what foods to eat to be healthy in science.  We will be starting another animals unit next week comparing similar animals to each other.

Monday, April 11, is group picture day.  We will be taking our class picture for the year book.

Looking further in to April, April 26 is a no school day.  Get out and vote!

Finishing off the week

I hope you all heard about the leprechaun invasion this week.  He messed up our room but then left us cool pencils and stickers.  Today, he left us magical rocks and when we poured magical goo over them, they sizzled, disappeared and we were left with gold coins.  We've been trying to trap the leprechauns all week, but we haven't been very successful.

We've gotten a lot of work done too.  We finished 2D and 3D shapes and started working with a number line to find one more and one less.  We worked in groups to figure out what community workers we would need to call to help rescue the cat stuck in the tree.  We wrote our own stories about it, too, with a graphic organizer and a beginning, middle and end.

Next week is career week.  We  have a packed schedule with speakers from the kindergarten classes. We also have an assembly next week on disability awareness.

And of course, next week is a short week.  Thursday is a professional work day and the beginning of spring break.

Enjoy the nice weather.

Please empty the folder today

The folders are going home with lots of important papers:

• Your child's progress report
• Kindergarten orientation dates (no school dates for current students)
• Field trip info for chaperones
• Shape Week show and tell
• Square 1 Art order forms
• Yearbook order forms
• Variety Show info sheet
• Singer Soccer game info sheet

Cross your fingers for a full day of school tomorrow so we can go on our field trip.  If we do go, remember a bagged lunch for your child.

Field Trip Updates

Tomorrow is our Field Trip to the Museum of Natural History.  Please dress appropriately for the weather and bring a bag lunch.  No lunchboxes, soda, glass bottles or tupperware please.  Label your child’s lunch with their name.   

**In the event of a 2 hour delay or school closure due to snowy weather, our field trip will be canceled and rescheduled for a date next month.**

3D shapes

Over the next two weeks, our focus in math is 3D shapes. We are spending each day focusing on a different 3D shape. NEXT week I was hoping to provide snacks that go along with a specific 3D shape. If you'd be willing to donate a snack that goes a long with a 3D shape please let me know! Here are some examples of snacks the teachers have used in the past! 

Sphere: clementines, kix cereal
Cylinder: marshmallows, Rolo candy, Combos Snacks
Cone: ice cream cones, Hershey kiss 
Rectangular Prism: cheese stick (square ends), wafer sandwich cookie
Cubes: cheese cubes, caramel cube, cut any kind of fruit into cubes 

Again, please let me know if you'd like to donate a specific snack so I can make sure I don't have double of one snack coming in (especially since many of these snacks are perishable) for a specific shape! 

Career Day

We need your help!  We are looking for parents to join us on Career Day and talk to our kids about their jobs.  Parents present to three different groups of children.  If you are interested and are available either March 21-23, please email and I will add you to our schedule.

Dr. Seuss' birthday spirit week

We always celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday with a fun spirit week - school wide.

Spirit week starts Monday, Feb 29-March 4.

The kids love dressing up (and so do the teachers)!

Monday - Pajama Day (no slippers)
Tuesday - Crazy Sock Day
Wednesday - Wacky Clothes Day
Thursday - Wear as many stars as possible
Friday - Spirit Day - wear our school colors - purple or white

Have Fun!

Weekly Reminders

Field Trip Chaperones - we could still use 1 more chaperone for our field trip on March 4 - preferably someone to meet us downtown at the museum.  Please let me know if you are available.

Read-A-Thon - I hope you are reading and logging minutes.  Some kids have come up to me to tell me how many minutes they have.  You do not need to raise money in order to read and for your child to win prizes.

Friday, February 26 - early release day.

Career Day - a flier was sent home to about the annual kindergarten career day.  Last year we had over a dozen parents come in and present to the students.  They loved all the different jobs that they learned about.  Whether you are a doctor, cashier, construction worker, scientist or artist, we would love to have you at career day.  Please fill out the form you received with preferred dates and times.

In our classroom, we are finishing up our unit on habitats in science and nonfiction writing.  Each class studied one habitat (we did the rain forest) last week and decorated our bulletin board to show the plants and animals that live there.  This week, we are researching other habitats, "visiting" them at the other classrooms and writing about what we learned.  We are learning 2d shapes and will be starting 3d shapes next week.  You will receive a notice by the end of this week about bringing in objects from home that show the 3d shapes we will be learning about.  Progress reports will be sent home next week and will have your child's latest reading levels.

Have a great week and stay dry in all this rain.

Important reminders

Friday is our Valentine's Day Party - remember to send in the Valentine's Day cards for your child to share.

Tuesday is the 100th day of school - remember to collect 100 things and send them with your child.

March 4 is our field trip - remember to send in money and the permission slip as soon as possible.

Report Cards

Your child's report is going home today in his/her folder.  Please sign and return the envelope.  The report is yours to keep.

Calling all Chaperones

We still need at least 2 more chaperones for our field trip March 4.  Remember, if you work in DC, you can meet us at the museum.  Please let me know if you are able to help.

We're back from Winter Break 2.0

Well, after a looong break, we're back and into the swing of the things.

And there's a lot going on....

We are reading nonfiction books this week about the external features of animals.  We are writing about them, too.  In math we are using colored squares and arranging them in different ways to show quantities.  In health, we are learning about the food groups and making healthy choices.

February 12 is our Valentine's Day Party right after recess at 2:50.  In your child's folder today is a class list.  If they are bringing in cards, please make sure they have for everyone.  If your child will not be participating, please let me know.

Our next field trip is March 4 to the Museum of Natural History.  We need lots of chaperones for this trip.  Most parents in years past have met us downtown.  They left work for a couple of hours and went straight back after our visit.  We can only take 2 chaperones on the bus.  If you are able to help, please let me know as soon as possible so that I know we have enough coverage.  Please checkout the kindergarten team blog at www.singerkindergarten.blogspot.com for a link for online field trip payments.  If you prefer this, please make a note on the permission slip when it is returned so I know the payment was made online.

Unfortunately, over the unanticipated break, our mealworms/pupae/beetles didn't fare so well.  We lost a lot of them, but we still have a good amount to keep track of.  Your child may tell you that theirs died.  They each had their own mealworm in a cup and then once they start changing they all go into a "group home".  Some of them didn't survive the long break without fresh food.  We talked about it and I think most understand what happened.

One last note...Our dojo point tracker has changed.  We are now earning 50 points before getting a prize.  Our goal is to get to 100 by the end of the year, because that is where they will start 1st grade.
Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the snow.  I'm ready for spring, though.

Have a great week.

Welcome Back update

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had a great break, and wonderful holidays.

Did you hear about our class pet?  Mealworms!  We will be studying the mealworms, and learning about their life cycle.  They will soon turn to pupa and then darkling beetles.  I"ll post pictures shortly.  We will learn about other animal life cycles in science too.  And we are starting to research bears in media.

Our winter reading assessment window opened so we will be testing reading levels.  Updated results will be included on your child's report card.  The marking period ends January 22 and report cards will go out the following week.

This week we are reading the Shoemaker and the Elves and writing about the story.

We are decomposing numbers in math.  For example, 1 and 5 is 6, 2 and 4 is 6.  This  is our first introduction to adding and subtracting.

Once again, thank you again for the wonderful holiday gifts and well wishes for my son.  The recovery was tough, a full 10 days and about 5 days before he was eating, but we made it through and he goes back to Indiana this weekend.

Remember, if you can, to send in a class snack to share.  We are running low.

Have a great week.